MidAtlanticConsulting’s Jeff Lauterette has discovered, and confirmed with Apple, that there is a virtual limit to the number of apps in Apple’s iOS 6 betas 1-3. When a user has over 500 apps on their iDevice, they will start having slow booting, auto-rebooting, and other issues due to the OS rejecting the number of apps. Get up to 1000 and your device will not even boot forcing you to restore.
At first, Apple’s stand was, “Who needs that many apps?” After many discussions, MidAtlanticConsulting report they were able to convince Apple that if they expect the iPhone to replace your phone, your pocket gaming system, your smart-home remotes, your TV remotes, you day-timer, etc. then they have to allow almost unlimited apps. If you go back a ways in keynote addresses, you will see that Steve Jobs said your only limit was the number of apps per folder and the number of folders you could fit in the 11 screens of apps. In iOS 6 betas 1-3, this is not possible, although it was in iOS 4 and iOS 5.
Apple said they will be fixing this issue, but the fix may not be in the next beta.
Originally reported by MidAtlanticConsulting, Inc.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Jeff Lauterette” for the heads up.]
the digital hoarders rejoice
Funny you should mention. Every time I see an episode of Hoarders on A&E and they have piles of records, documents, magazines, etc, it makes me hopeful that hoarders can move to the digital world where the impact of the disease is much less.
I am a podcast hoarder. I have over 7000 podcasts in que and will never listen to them all, even though I’ve deleted episodes not of interest. I don’t worry about it, because a TB hard drive is the total cost of my addiction,
Well that SUCKS Apple! I realize we are at only a Beta builds here but if this kind of limitation stays it’s off to Droid for many.
Yes, I’m sure at least 6 people will be upset and switch.
Yea, mass exodus! Droid users can’t count to a thousand.
What kind of sick bastard has 500 apps on their iPhone?
i think I have like 200…
I get lots of games for free when they drop the price. (appshopper.com ftw!)
No duh!
A really sck bastard. Now just read the flames from those dorks with 63,000 apps. Sickos.
I have 2,113 installed on my 64GB iPad 3 just in case I might need one of them some day. I own almost 11,000 apps. Download about 20 new apps each day. I am that kind of sick bastard. Thank you fr recognizing me.
… so at $0.99 you’ve spent $10,890 (at least) in case you ‘might’ need an app… which will likely need to be updated anyway and would be easier to find and buy from the app store at the moment you need it. That money would have been better spent on therapy.
Over 5+ years of owning iphones I probably spent that much. I dont buy much music and some people have 10’s of thousands of songs at 99 cents.
If you add up things you buy like a cup of coffee over 5 years it will be pretty high too.
Most of mybapps were purchased when they were free or are always free. I use AppsGoneFree and other app sale finder apps to find apps that are temporarily free or on sale. I’ve spent about $500 on apps over the past 4 years. Plus I buy them with iTunes Card credits I bought for 20% off in the first place online. So when I buy a 99¢ app I’m only spending 79¢. Last Black Friday I replenished my iTunes Card credit supply by buying $800 worth of iTunes cards for less than $640. Most of those cards are still unredeemed. So no I haven’t spent $10,890 on apps since Instarted buying them in 2008. Just make it a part time occupation to hunt for app deals every day.
Isn’t there an app for your problem?
on time i had 500 or so apps on my 3GS, now i have a lot less on my 4S and always looking to delete unused apps. and a lot of apps these days combine the functionality that used to be in multiple apps.
even with less than 100 apps on my iphone i rarely use more than 10
Already enough data to suggest a skewed distribution with > 90% of the MDN sample frame of iPhone users (likely hugely over-representing the ‘geek’) as having less than 100 apps. I’d be interested in seeing 10-unit intervals starting at 0-10 up to 100.
Thankfully, Apple doesn’t listen to you people beyond a really good laugh.
If you look at the poll we are running that I posted in a previous comment, it is pretty even with as many over 2000 as there are below 100. And you may be assuming that this is only about the iPhone. It is also about the iPod Touch and iPad. Apple is pushing iDevices as a way to put your life in your pocket but also as a replacement for a gameboy. If they expect it to be a true gaming environment they cant limit apps. They realize that and will correct the issue before release but who knows when.
it’s before the release so who (outside of developers) should really care about this???
The purpose was to warn people running the beta not to go up too high in apps until the problem is fixed. It wont be an issue in the release.
One article on CNET disputed the claims but I am sure they did not install 1000 apps because if they did, they would be stuck when they try to reboot.
To Future and those below.,
I think the key is not that you have 11,000 apps but do you really need everyone of them every day.??
I have more music than I can carry on a 32gig iPhone. I just swap out sections when I sync my phone. Actually thinking of going to a smaller size phone next time and letting iCloud do the swapping out for me, if I can really figure out how that goes. LOL
Dude, if you spent just 5 minutes interacting with each app you have, that’s more than 7 days of time (or to be precise, 176 hours).
How many of them have you never even touched?
I probably have that many in iTunes, but when I don’t use stuff I delete it from my phone.
Are we going to have someone post an argument for the need to support 1000 apps? I bet we will.
Umm…. I’m an App reviewer and I need….
Umm…. I paid for 64GB, I should be able to use it as I see fit.
Whatever.
Well, umm, I paid for 64GB, I should be able to use it as I see fit.
ANd the ironic thing is Skeeter got in in before you even posted.
My response to scooter:
Well then ok… take off for android, and please, don’t let the screen door hit you in the ass. Then do us a favor load that puppy up with 500-1000 of your most critical and necessary apps…so we can all giggle at you.
Does android even have 500-1000 apps available?
My colleague Jeff, who reported the issue, is that sort of “sick bastard”. You do NOT want to see how the menu bars and System Preferences on his Macs look.
That is the best post I have read in a long time. Thank you.
If I recall, I have 300+ aps. They do not show up, of course. I have to find many by specifically searching for many…which I can’t do since I don’t always remember the names of aps I’m looking for. Most want Apple to loosen up on this, not tighten up!
Bandit, filling up 64GB is not enough at all for some of us, but not because of aps. It’s the videos, photos, and music.
Thanks a lot guys. Now my nickname is Sick Bastard (not to be confused with Fat Bastard from Austin Powers)
Anyways….since having every single iphone so far and restoring years of backups yes I have all those apps. Think about it….a few apps a week, 52 weeks a year, 5 or more years. Its not hard.
My biggest issue is I dont have the time to delete them and who knows that one day 3 years from now I may need that app and not have internet to download it.
But I can say that I am sure I am not the only one.
How about App Junkies. Sounds better then sick bastard. LOL
You don’t have time to delete apps. Yet you have time to search for and download new apps. Right.
You have so many apps that you can’t find them and can’t remember their names.
You, sir, are a digital Hoarder, wasting virtual space and cluttering up the pristine white cloud. Shame on you.
Use folders. One of the cool features in iOS 6 will be that it shows the name of the folder the app is in when doing a spotlight search. This helps you find that app you cant remember where the h’ll you filed it.
I do have a number of folders. But some aps aren’t easily categorized. So, I can have folders called “Aps Folder 3” and “Aps Folder 24” and just pile aps into them hoping I’d have the time to browse them all. Even having them out of folders is not always easy. I know I have pas I’d be using more regularly…if I can remember that they even exist. This is a problem with multiple aps. It’s not a good reason to have fewer aps, just a reason to find “a better way.” Developers need to name their aps as simply as possible to remind us what some do. Creative naming isn’t always helpful unless it is something we use daily.
No one will ever need more than 640,000 apps.
Why is there any limit? It is a form of UNIX, right?
When you’re not using an app anymore, delete it. You can always redownload it or sync it back from iTunes in your computer. Why do you need to keep every app ever on your device all the time?
Not always on internet (or wifi and want to save my no longer unlimited plan (Thanks to AT&T).
Jeff
a 1gb download to play a game that I play maybe once a month.
I guess you are right lol.
I do delete some old stuff, but there are many of them I do use. (not often but I do use them)
I have both sound hound and shazam. Both do the same thing, but sometimes one works better than the other.. So I keep both. It used to be they were limited to so many uses before you had to purchase more “uses”. So I used one up then switched to the other..
I keep about 255 apps on my iPad and about 230 on my iPhone. I do have to leave a few 1GB+ apps off from time to time. Most of these are games or apps with lots of visual assets that I don’t play very often, got stuck on a certain level or have beaten. I would leave them all on if I had room for them.
If I bought a WiFi hard-drive in the 500 GB size I would take all my video with me too. But I don’t travel for any length of time without my MacBook Pro anyway.
I guess i am an App Bastard as well. I have 972 of those critters!
Want to start a new reality show called App Addicts?
They could follow us around as we prove there is “an app for that” on our iDevice!!
I have 1564 apps…
Your Italian App Bastard. ( i’am not mr. Berlusconi…!)
I’m an avid app addict, with 441 currently on phone, and hundreds more on my MBP. I welcome limits like this, since there are certainly a 100 or so apps I will likely never use on the phone, and can be redownloaded if necessary over usb without a connection.
Whaaaaah! We must have our games. What is the USA coming to? Playing games while circling the Obama drain.
Anothe Apple blunder of recent… 20 apps per folder, that, major iCloud migration screwup, in-app purchases Easily hacked by simple method robbing developers of millions of dollars. What’s next?
Uh, run out of toilet paper in the Corporate restroom?
Theoretical max: 2,112 apps on an iPhone (11 pages times 16 folders each times 12 apps per folder).
Of course, you’d have to have a genius-level I.Q. to find it all.
Me: “Siri, find the app I’m thinking about”
Siri: “I’m sorry Rob, you don’t really want to do that. How about a nice game of chess?”
What I don’t like is seeing the “update badge” on App Store. So, “update all” is the typical option presses. When I do this, all updated apps come to my phone, even if they hav been deleted.
I wish the store asked you to update only those apps that are actually installed.
Perhaps it’s just me
Running iOS beta 3…
My mail and phone icons disappears. All pages were full.
I deleted some apps (I forgot to make sure iTunes didn’t have them selected for install) after the restore and had to reboot the phone for the mail and phone app to reappear.
Hope it’s a bug.
people who have that many apps don’t even use the most of them. so why be a pack rat.
I currently have 2,113 apps on my 64GB iPad 3. If they impose a limit like that, I will be forced to not upgrade to iOS 6. I hope to God they drop any sort of throttling limit. I would be devistated if they did. I own almost 11,000 apps. I’m preying for a 128GB iPad next Spring.
Hmmm, You just need more iPhones… Say 5 or 6.!!!! LOL
You could color code them for which apps are on each. Yellow for utilities, red for music apps, blue for location apps (cause we need 43 apps to tell us where we are LOL), etc
Just a colorful idea. 🙂
I have 699 apps on my iPhone4 & even more on my iPad3. Both devices boot up quickly and smoothly. It would be odd if a newer iOS version performed less well.
As for the number of apps I keep…that’s my business. I like to add & delete them. I like to compare similar apps & see how they improve after each update. Most are free or cheap so playing around with them is part of the fun of smartphones.
So there!